//------------------------------// // Cracking the Empire // Story: Sonic Universe: Equestrian Adventure // by Arcing Light //------------------------------// Prime Zone Planet Mobius Freedom HQ Amy swung her hammer at the exceptionally large boulder in front of her and shattered it with ease. Placing the hammer down on the ground and wiping her brow, the pink hedgehog looked up at the sky and watched the smoke rise from beyond the hill separating freedom HQ and the small city on the other side. Turning back to the rubble she examined the collapsed building that she and knuckles were clearing and sighed. "This is going to take forever to clear." The hedgehog complained. Amy felt a lone tear make its way down her face and drip off her chin like so many had before. She choked back a sob and wiped her cheek dry inhaling deeply to calm herself. She was determined not to cry as she had work to complete, but she knew that sooner or later her emotions would give in and she would break down. Now was not the time or the place. Picking her hammer back up she prepared to start swinging at the larger stones in the rubble that she knew she wouldn't be able to lift. "Amy! Knuckles!" She heard someone call from behind. "Tails?" Amy looked back over her shoulder. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the two tailed fox flying over the hill carrying a battered blue hedgehog. "Sonic!" The pink hedgehog cried as she ran off towards the duo, leaving Knuckles to work on clearing rubble on his own. As the duo landed she got a clearer look at her long time crush. Sonic was covered in bruises all along his body accompanied by roughed up fur and torn clothing. One of the hedgehogs eyes had swollen shut as well and he stumbled a little as he touched down. "What happened to you?!" She asked as she fought to hold back the tears in her eyes. "Why is there so much smoke coming from Knothole? What happened to our homes?" "Knotholes gone Amy." The blue hedgehog said as he started to walk to the ruined building. "The Egg Fleet burned it to the ground." "Wha...? No!" Amy cried as the tears she was holding back escaped and rolled down her face in a steady unbroken stream. "What about everyone else?" "Captured." Sonic answered as he walked past the pink hedgehog. "Eggman zapped them all into his Egg Grapes." "What Egg Grapes? What are those?" Knuckles asked as the hedgehog passed him. "There prison pods that turn life force into fuel or something." The hedgehog said, not looking back at the echidna. "I was kinda busy being beaten up to catch all of Eggmans ranting." Jumping down a hole in the rubble to the second floor, sonic stumbled a little as he landed. Regaining his balance the blue hedgehog made his way to the wrecked lab. "So what are we going to do?" Knuckles jumped down the hole behind Sonic, followed closely by Amy and Tails. Looking back over his shoulder sonic thought for a second. "You guys start fixing up Freedom HQ." He replied, continuing on his way. "I'm going to take what I can from the lab and get our families and friends back." "You can't go after them alone!" Tails argued as he caught up with the hedgehog. "Give me a minute to build something or... "You'll be safer here." Sonic interrupted the fox without looking back. "I'll get them back, don't worry." Climbing over a broken beam, Sonic entered the ruined lab and started to scan the room for anything he could salvage. "But you'll have to deal with his Egg Fleet, and all of his badnik army." Tails climbed in after the hedgehog. "Not to mention his super battle suit." "Tails! I've got this." "Like you had knothole a few minutes ago?!" Tails yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Sonic. "Yeah! You really helped a lot there! Or does your plan hinge on you getting your butt kicked again?!" Silence regained for a few moments as the fox and hedgehog glared at each other, creating enough tension between the two thick enough to cut with a knife. "If I may interrupt," A voice cut in, drawing the twos attention towards it. Amongst the rubble was a small pocket computer that served as Nicole's portable field module. "I recommend we postpone the infighting until after the rescue mission." The A.I.'s voice called out from the small electronic. "If anyone's interested, I have a plan." "What do you have in mind?" Tails asked as the A.I. as he picked up her module. "First, well need to fix up that hover cart over there." Prime Zone Planet Mobius New Megaopolis Egg Vineyard "Ladies and gentlemen and mobians of all ages!" Eggman cried from the platform he and Snively were standing on, sticking out into the middle of the silo that held the spheres containing the captured mobians of Knothole. "I want to thank you all for providing me with such an entertaining resistance movement for so very long. Its made running my global empire so much more exciting and enjoyable." Looking up at the group of spheres that held princess Sally and her small group of Freedom Fighters he gave his captives a toothy grin as they glared back at him. "You Freedom Fighters had been given many opportunities to surrender and join my empire like so many city's and rebellion groups have before you, but your pride in your stupid little monarchy blinded you to who was really in charge." Turning to the next set of spheres that held Vector and his Chaotix he gave the group a frown. "You Chaotix knew this all along, Which makes you all the more stupid for aiding the monarchy. Speaking of which," the overlander turned around. "Look at how the mighty House of Acorn has fallen! You look terrible Maximillian." Eggman eyed the aging chipmunk before switching his gaze over to another nervous looking being of the same species who had a crown atop his head. "And you let your inexperienced firstborn take the crown. In all my years of waring with your family, I've never come across a king as weak as you. "Don't listen to him Elias!" Cried a chipmunk beside the kings pod as she held a crying infant close to her chest. "I married you for your strength and bravery." "HAHAHA!" Eggman bellowed. "How touching." Looking over the rest of the captured mobians, the overlander sneared. "Now then, I'm going to demonstrate to you all just what these Egg Grapes can do. The process will be accelerated, but no more less potent, just to make sure your all good and terrified before the end!" From high up in the silo a claw dropped down, grabbing Charmys sphere form the Chaotix's group of egg grapes. "Charmy!" The female bee next to him cried as the claw dragged him towards Eggman. "I-It'll be okay Saffron" Charmy tried to assure his companion. "Charmy Bee!" Eggman exclaimed gleefully as the Chaotix member was brought befor him. "Haven't I already ruined your life? Destroyed your kingdom or some such right?" "Yes you have." Charmy glared at the smiling overlander. "Despite all that, I've fought for our world. No matter what you do to me, I will still fight for Mobius. And I'm not alone!" All around the silo mobians burst into cheering, inspired by the little bee. "Brave last words prince." Eggman grinned as he looked over his shoulder. "Snively." "With pleasure sir." Snively put on a sick grin similar to Eggmans as he pressed a large button on the console in front of him. Charmy's pod filled with electricity as the insect was drained of his life force, crying out in agony during the process. A loud crash and the sound of screeching metal echoed through the silo as a with four mobians in it crashed through the wall. The pink hedgehog and red echidna in the cart jumped out while the blue hedgehog stood up on its edge. "Don't start the party without us Robuttnik!" The blue hedgehog declared as he pointed up at the platform the overlanders were on. "We... Whats that light?" "Charmy!" The echidna exclaimed. "No! I cant be to late again!" The hedgehog couldn't keep the fear off of his face. "Nicole?!" The twin tailed fox piloting the hover cart pulled out a small handheld computer. "What now?" "I'm detecting a port access plug up top." The computer said. "Plug me in up there. Hurry!" "I've got Charmy!" The blue hedgehog called out running up the wall of the silo. "Everyone stick to the plan!" The fox yelled flying up after the hedgehog. "Amy, Knuckles, bust everyone out!" The pink hedgehog and red echidna followed the order they were given and started smashing the pods with ease. "No!" Eggman hollered as the blue hedgehog leapt from the wall and onto the platform the overlanders were on. Eggman nervously took a few steps back from the hedgehog. "Your supposed to be beaten, your spirit broken!" "Shows how smart you are." The hedgehog snickered. Jumping towards the overlanders, the hedgehog curled into a ball and flew past them, smashing through Charmys pod. Bouncing off the wall on the other side, the hedgehog landed back on the platform in front of the console with the unconscious bee in his arms. "I'm going to make sure that Charmy is okay." The hedgehog glared at the overlander, malice sewn into his voice. "You get that much of a head start Eggman." Jumping down off the platform, the hedgehog left the overlanders. Eggman and snively ran off down the platform and the hallway it was connected to. "You said you caught them all! You missed three!" Eggman yelled at his nephew. "Three of how many hundred?!" Snively yelled back. "Shut up and run!" Back at the platform the yellow fox landed and ripped off the top of the console, revealing is insides. Taking a cable out of his backpack, he connected one end to the inside of the console and the other to Nicole's module. "How does it look Nicole?" He asked as soon as the A.I. was plugged in. "Without A.D.A.M. Dr. Robotniks systems are wide open." Nicole replied in her electronic voice. "I'll only need a minute." Down on the floor of the silo, mobians huddled together as a duck in a white doctor coat checked over Charmy. All of the mobians wore worried expressions on there faces, concerned for the young bee's health. "Doctor Quack, how is he?" Saffron asked as she hovered over the ducks shoulder. "I don't have any of my tools on me Saffron," Doctor Quack stated as he looked up at the bee. "But he seems to be stable. It looks like Sonic got to him just in time." The mobians gave sighs of relief as the news was spread around. Behind Saffron and the doctor, sally placed a hand on the wounded hedgehogs shoulder. "Sonic, are you okay?" She gave him a worried look. "Hey Sally. I'm hangin in there." Sonic answered. The hedgehog looked extreamly worn out. "Good," sally gave the hedgehog a warm smile before putting on a serious face. "Because we have to move. Everyone, lets go!" From up top the platform the twin tailed fox watched the events unfold down below. Realizing it was time to leave he turned to Nicole's module. "We have to go Nicole." "I've done all i can from here." Nicole told the fox. "I'll finish preparations when we get home." "Home?" The fox asked as he unplugged the A.I. "I'm sorry, there's no time to explain. Stay with the group Tails." "If you say so." Spinning his twin tails like a propeller, the fox jumped off of the platform and flew down to the crowd of mobians rushing out of the hole in the silo. "I hope your plan works." On the ground sonic and sally were ushering mobians out the hole in the silos wall. "This way everybody. Right back out the way we came in!" Sonic called as he waved mobians past him. "There's to many of us." Sally yelled to sonic as mobians pushed there way past her, her voice being lost in the noise they were making occasionally. "...to crowded. Mabye if we put as many as we can on that hover cart... The Freedom Fighters and Chaotix... And hold off any "Nope!" Sonic interrupted "Nope?!" The princess cocked an eyebrow at the hedgehog. Sonic gave the chipmunk a sly grin. "We've got a plan Sal. We stick together." Running out the hole with the rest of the mobians. Sonic kept a pace slow enough so that Sally could keep up with him. "While it may usually work for you 'run away as fast as you can' is not a plan." Sally complained as tails landed and joined them in running. "Did I say it was my plan." Sonic smiled "Fine." Sally halfheartedly agreed and called into the group of mobians. "Everyone stick together!" Sonic looked over at Tails and his ears flattened against his head. "Dude, about earlier..." Sonic started. Tails' own ears flattened. "Yeah, Sonic i..." "OH NO!" Sally wailed, stopping dead in her tracks. "Hold that thought." Sonic skidded to a stop himself as his gaze turned upwards. Above the mass crowd of mobians was Dr. Eggmans battle suit hovered, hand cannon charged with energy and aimed at the crowd. "Was this part of your plan too?" Sally asked the hedgehog nervously. "Believe it or not... "I told you the game was over sonic." Eggman's voice crackled out of the suit. "Now, get back in those Egg Grapes!" The overlander open fired, hitting Tails and several other mobians upon the first hit. "Everyone back!" Sonic yelled as he pointed to a clear allyway. "Take the first ally to the right! MOVE!" "He's using a wider spread on his teleporting beam!" Sally observed as mobians were zapped in groups of three's and four's. "We'll be recaptured in no time!" The hedgehog just smiled as he ran beside the chipmunk. "Wait for it." ... Eggman smiled wickedly as he watched his teleportation beams send mobian after mobian back into the Egg Grapes that he kept for backup. "That hedgehog has always been a thorn in my side." Eggman quietly muttered to himself as he searched the mob for Sonic. "It was a mistake to let him live, this time he gets put in with the rest of the mobians." "Um, sir?" Snively crackled over the radio. "Not now Snively." Eggman said as he blasted a few more mobians. "I've already recaptured most of them and the rest are trapped at a dead end." "But sir, the teleportation beam is... "Obviously working! Now shut up and let me savor this moment!" Flicking off his radio, Eggman turned his attention to the last few mobians trapped between him and a wall. "Time to finish this hedgehog." ... "Sonic can you spin dash through this wall?" Sally asked the confident looking hedgehog in a panic. "Maybe get us a way out?" "Probably." Sonic answered indifferently. "But not this time." "Have you lost your mind!" Sally yelled at the hedgehog as her eye twitched furiously. "No, but I cant explain right now. I don't want ol'robobutt to overhear and ruin the surprise." "Sonic!" Sally screamed as she and the last few mobians were hit with a beam. Standing alone in front of the battle suit, sonic gave Eggman the smuggest look he could manage. "This is a first for you rodent!" Eggman declared over the suits external speakers. "Two colossal failures in one day! Won't you put up a futile effort for old times sake?" "And give you the pleasure? Not likely chubs!" To emphasize his point the hedgehog swung his arm in a cutting motion as he spoke. "Fine then! Join your friends in oblivion!" Eggman unleashed one final blast of his laser at the hedgehog. "See ya on the flipside loser." "Finally, I won!" Eggman exclaimed as the suits arms swing up into the air. Turning his radio back on he spoke into it with joy. "Snively, don't start the egg grapes until I get there!" "But sir!" Snivelys voice came through the radio slightly panicked. "I've been trying to tell you the entire time! The teleportation frequency was tampered with! There's nobody in the reserve egg grapes!" Eggmans suits arms fell to it sides as the overlander remained silent and worked his jaw for a moment, dumbstruck. "I'm remote launching the egg fleet now!" Eggman yelled over the communications channel as he activated the jets in his suits feet and flew up to the airships hovering above the city. "Track down that frequency and tell me where they are!" "I've already got it sir. I'm on my way to the flagship now." "Well, where are they!" Eggman fumed. "It looks like... The nanite city?" Prime Zone Planet Mobius Former Nanite City "She did it!" Tails exclaimed as he looked upon a small body of water. "She rebuilt the lake of rings." "But will it still produce the magic rings, I wonder?" An older fox asked the two tailed one. "All of our homes..." Bunnie started as she took in her surroundings. "Zey have been rebuilted!" Antoine finished, embracing the rabbit. "Heh, just 'rebuilt' Antoine." Rotor corrected as amy helped support the walrus. "Father look!" Elias pointed out a large castle in the middle of the city. "By the glory of the source," Maximillians eyes waterd as he beheld the sight before him. "Castle Acorn! As it was in the days of our long lost Mobotropolis!" "That was what I intended your highness." A new but familiar voice explained, drawing everyones attention to it. "Whoa..." Sonic said before letting out a low whistle. A brown lynx wearing a purple dress presented herself to the group. "This is something I've been preparing for quite a while now. Doctor Robotniks efforts have forced me to reveal this before it was finished, but all the same, welcome to New Mobotropolis. I will be your hostess, Nicole." "Nicole!" Sally exclaimed as he raced up to the now solid A.I. and embraced her. "I didn't think you could maintain this form." "I could not until I found something robust enough to maintain me. I built enough holographic matrix's to give me full use of the city." "Good to have you with us again." Sonic gave the A.I. a thumbs up. "Does the lake of rings actually work?" Tails asked "How do you have enough power to sustain a physical form?" "Is it just like old Mobotropolis?" "What are our defenses here?" "I'll answer everything in time, I promise!" Nicole smiled and let out a lighthearted chuckle. "You've already done a great deal for us Nicole." Sally hugged the A.I.. She then turned to sonic and the rest of the mobians who had broken out all the captives. "And all of you as well. Without you none of us would've made it to see Nicole's new beautiful city." "Do not celebrate all of our achievements just yet princess." Nicole interrupted as she turned her green eyes up to the sky. "It did not take Dr. Robotnik very long to figure out what we did," High in the sky the Egg Fleet could be seen making its way towards New Mobotropolis. "And he has come to finish what he has started." Zone Unknown Planet Unknown Location Unknown Twilight stood in front of the large rainbow colored sphere as she watched it float there, shining with a glamorus luster. Looking around around herself, the sea of grass she was standing upon seemed to go on forever before suddenly stopping on the horizon. Turning her attention back to the shining orb in front of her the unicorn raised an eyebrow. "Where am I?" Twilight asked herself out loud. "And how exactly did I get here?" "You are in a dream Twilight Sparkle." A voice said from the other side of the orb. "I have called your mind here but your body still lays safe and sound in your bed." "Who's there?" The lavender mare asked as she started to walk around the orb to get a better look at who was accompanying her. As she made her way to the other side of the orb she almost collided with the dark alicorn that stood there. "I would think my voice itself would let you recognize me." The alicorn said as she gave the unicorn a friendly smile. "Princess Luna!" Twilight bowed to the princess of the night. "Twilight sparkle, you do not have to be so formal with me, especially in here. We are friends, are we not?" "Heh heh, sorry Luna. I should know better." Twilight chuckled as she rose. "So how have you been? I see that your speech has improved more since the last time we met." "I am fine Twilight, but I did not call you here to socialize. This is a very serious matter." Twilight's expression became worried. "What happened?" "Before I explain, I must give you a brief history lesson, a history that has faded out of Equestria almost entirely." Looking up at the orb, its light reflecting off the princess eyes, Luna continued. "What do you know about the multiverse theory?" "From what I've read, the multiverse, or meta-universe, is the hypothetical set of multiple different universes that together comprise everything that exists or can exist." The unicorn recited from her mind. "The term was supposedly coined in the year 895 by philosipher and psychologist William Haymes, though the term does appear in tomes from before his time. Its also recorded that multiple unicorns, including Starswirl the Bearded, have attempted to create a spell to travel to these other universes, but have never succeded, That's why its only a theory. That's just a brief summary to, as I'm just scratching the surface of what I've learned about the subject." "This is all true except for one thing." "Whats that?" Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "The multiverse is not just a theory, it is as real as you and I." Luna closed her eyes and her horn lit with magic. The world that she and the lavender unicorn stood in began to swirl around them and change until they were in a room filled with orbs like the one they had been standing beside, though thees ones where much smaller and images played inside of them. With the flick of here horn the orbs started to pass in front of them, each orb containing a different scene. "At around the same time that my sister and I sealed Discord away in stone the first time, we sealed our world off from the rest of the multiverse to prevent creatures like the draconiquis from entering our world again." An image of the princess casting a spell with the elements of harmony floated past them. "So wait, Disords not from our world?" "He is, but his powers are not. We do not know which one he went to, but Discord traveled to another universe once and returned with a large green gemstone that emitted Chaos energy. When he absorbed the gemstone he gained the powers that he now posses." Luna explained as a orb showing discords absorbtion of the large gemstone. "As i was saying we sealed our world off from the others so nothing could come through. This is why anypony who has tried to go to other universes has failed." "Why are you telling me all of this?" Twilight asked curiously. "Because the barrier that Celestia and myself set up has started to collapse." Luna sighed. "We do not know when it started or why we did not sense it earlier, though we suspect it has something to do with us not being the bearers of the elements anymore." "If its such a big problem why don't you just get me and the girls to reseal it?" "Because it has already eroded far to much to stop it now and the spell takes days to cast, even for alicorns. We will need the elements at a moments notice if anything hostile comes into our world." "Do you know what kind of universes we could come into contact with?" Luna lit her horn and several orbs flew in front of the duo. "We have already seen a few worlds out there, but we've only seen two universes seem to have direct connections to ours." The princess motioned to two orbs in the middle of the group. One contained who appeared to be Celestia, though her mane and tail now seemed to be flames instead of her normal triple hued ones. Her eyes were also glowing white orbs that held great amounts of power. "The first universe seems to be on were my sister has gone mad with power instead of me. In this world I am apparently the sole ruler of Equestria and the elements of harmony were obtained by ponies other than you and your friends." "Who got them in that universe?" Twilight curiously approached the orb. Luna's horn glowed and the image changed to a group of six mares, all of whom she recognized. There was Cheerlie, Ponyville elementary's teacher, Lyra, whom Twilight had seen a few times around Canterlot and had learned she moved to Ponyville shortly after Twilight to be with her marefriend Bon-Bon, Ditzy Doo, Ponyvilles resident mailmare, Raindrops, one of the ponies on the weather team, Carrot Top, a carrot farmer who lived a bit outside Ponyville, and, "Trixie?!" Twilight just about woke up there, but Luna forced the mare to stay unconscious. "What? How could she... Why would... Which element...?" "I think we should move on before you wake yourself up." Casting the orb into the farthest corner of the room she turned her attention to the next orb. Inside of it was what appeared to be a male Twilight. "I believe we should skip this one as well." The princess cast this orb away as well, but it was caught in a magenta aura and floated past Luna and in front of Twilight. The unicorn studied the image for a while obviously intruiged by the orbs contents. "Is this supposed to be me?" The unicorn asked as her cheeks began to turn a little red. "Yes." Luna answered surprised at how well the unicorn was taking it. "In that universe the history is the same as ours, everypony is just the opposite gender." "Interesting." "I thought so as well." "What about the other universes. Whats in them?" Looking up to the rest of the orbs she examined them. In one was the image of a small yellow rodent that had a lightning bolt shaped tail. Another held two quadrapedal dragons, one purple and one black, and a yellow dragonfly with arms. "There are quite a few that we discovered, and most of them seem relatively harmless." Luna explained as she pulled a few more orbs closer to them. One contained a small round pink creature inhaling large amounts of food and falling asleep soon after, while the other showed a large savanna with a large rock sticking up out of it and a frail looking baboon holding a lion cub up into the air. "While others seem to be extreamly violent." Another orb came down, this one playing out a large battle on a snowy tundra where large four legged machines shot what appeared to be red bolt of magical energy at bipedal creatures on the ground while other flying machines tried to wrap cables around them to trip the behemoths. "Fortunately very few of these universes, if any, are aware that the multiverse exists." "What should we do?" Twilight asked as she looked upon the orbs. "Do you and the rest of your friends still possess the elements?" "Yes, Princess Celestia left them with us after we released Discord." "Good. I advise you to keep them near you at all times. We don't know what could come through the barrier once it fully collapses. We will also be sending detachments of royal guards to each city within out borders." "Should I inform the rest of Ponyville?" "My sister will send you a letter to give to mayor mare explaining a few new rules we have created just to be on the safe side in the morning. Hopefully none of them will be needed." Luna turned to Twilight and gave her a worried smile. "Stay safe Twilight Sparkle. Our world may change drastically because of this. I must take my leave as it is almost dawn and I must fulfill my duty as raiser of the moon. I hope the next time we meet it is on better terms so that we may catch up. Farewell Twilight Sparkle, may your dreams be pleasant." "Goodnight princess." Twilight bowed to the princess once more. Luna gave a soft giggle at Twilight's display. "I told you that you don't have to be so formal with me. Your my friend." Twilight smiled up at the dark alicorn. "I know but your still the princess." Twilight's vision blurred as her dream started to end and cut the link between her and the princess. "Until next time Luna?" "Until next time." Luna's voice cut through the dreamscape. Zone Unknown Planet Equis Golden Oaks Library Ponyville The sun shone through the window of the library and splayed itself across Twilight's face, gently waking the rested unicorn. Opening her eyes twilight stretched her legs, warming up her muscles that she hadn't used since the night before. Looking out the window the unicorn smiled softly at the sun peaking over the horizon. "I have a feeling today's going to be an interesting one." Twilight mused to herself. A tiny burp and a flash of green drew Twilight's attention away from the window and to the small purple dragon who lay in his bed, eyes wide and now fully awake. "Why?" The dragon moaned and tossed the scroll on his stomach to twilight who caught the scroll with her magic. She did not open it for she already knew what it contained. "Don't worry spike, you can go back to sleep if you want." Twilight said as she hopped out of bed and head off towards her bedroom door. "Not like i could if i wanted to." Spike muttered, throwing off his covers. "Where are you going?" "I have to go get the girls and bring this scroll to mayor mare." "Mind if i come with you?" Spike stretched his arms and yawned. "I don't see why not." "Sweet. I'll meet you downstairs." Exiting the room twilight chuckled a little. "It'll be an interesting one indeed."